Over
by Drag0nst0rm
Summary: Everything comes to an end, but it's manner of ending depends on the choices people make.


It ended without anyone quite realizing it. They knew Tony was leaving, of course, and they all said their farewells, but they assumed he would come back, or at least call.

And he did. For a while. But they had a new teammate, and he had a new family, and the calls get shorter and shorter until they stop all together.

He comes round to the Navy Yard a week after he sends Tali off to college. Gibbs' face has joined a long line of photos on one of the walls. He spots Kate's, Paula's, and Jenny's pictures there too, and he swallows hard. At least he's in good company.

Ducky's Alzheimer's has progressed enough that he's in a nursing home, he learns. Palmer visits frequently.

McGee's transferred somewhere with his own team. Bishop's deep undercover. Abby joined the private sector after Gibbs died.

It was over, and he felt like screaming, because of all the ways it could have ended it was never supposed to be like _this._

* * *

It ended without anyone quite realizing it. Anyone back at the Navy Yard, that is. Those of them on the ground knew exactly when it ended and how. They'd seen it coming; they just hadn't known how to stop it.

Tony had come back from his travels and claimed his job back with a strange urgency that they all put down to needing to work to chase the memories away. They all understood that, especially Gibbs.

All of Tony's reasons for leaving NCIS were still there, of course, but NCIS offered daycare for a reason, and he'd survived the job this long, hadn't he?

But Abby was kidnapped and tied to a bomb, and without Ziva they weren't going to be _quite_ quick enough, and they knew it.

Gibbs ordered them to run, but they'd never followed that particular order before, and they didn't intend to start now.

Tony should have, he knew. Maybe would have, for Tali's sake, but he knew, looking at the timer, that running wouldn't matter.

They threw themselves into trying, at least, and they went out in a blaze of glory.

It was over, and glory was a thing like ashes for Tali, because of all the ways she could have lost her father, of course it would have been to fire.

* * *

It ended without anyone quite realizing it. It was a piecemeal and fractured way of ending, and it tiptoed into their lives in stages.

Ducky retired, officially, but he was in and out so much that they almost didn't notice the difference. Even when he stopped coming quite as much, there were still holiday dinners at his place and invitations to eat there nearly every week. Palmer came more often even than that, and he always brought a little girl that held out her arms and cried, "Grandducky!"

The holiday meals held a special place in their hearts because it was for one of those that Tony came back. He refused to take his old job back despite everyone, including the job's current holder, encouraging him to, but he'd slid back into their lives nonetheless, and they had Ducky's Thanksgiving makeshift feast to thank for it.

Tony had stopped solving crime and started writing about it, and when McGee could no longer take the others teasing him about it, he took to writing again too. Their "stunningly lifelike" mysteries took turns at the top of bestseller lists, and the teasing grew with each book published. The books did so well that when he and Delilah had gotten married and decided to adopt, McGee decided it was best to quit his job for safety's sake.

Ducky's Alzheimer's slowly got the better of him, but they were all there for him until the very end.

Bishop got remarried and transferred to New Orleans. Abby got married but stayed right where she was.

No matter where they went, though, they always came together for Christmas. It was a DiNozzo family tradition, after all.

Gibbs retired when he had to and not a day before. He worked on his boat until his hands shook too much for that, and he couldn't quite remember whether he'd taken the pills that were supposed to fix the tremors or not.

Tali was off at college, so Tony moved in with him to help. Abby came by every other day, and Palmer stopped by nearly as often. McGee and Bishop called.

"It's lovely the way you all look after your father," one of the neighbors told him.

Tony could have corrected her, but it was close enough, really.

It wasn't over, not quite, but it was getting there, softly and slowly, and perhaps, as hard as this was, that was alright.

* * *

 **A/N: I haven't had close contact with any of the scenarios described in this fic. If you have, and something in here was handled badly, I apologize.**


End file.
